Basic Black Bill Blass for women

Very complex, very spicy, very sexy and not for the faint of heart. This stuff is timeless, classic and down right fabulous. I would try to describe it better if I could but there are so many notes going on that they just blend together in a harmonious way! I am so glad I blind bought this after loving Nude so much. Now I am curious as to how Hot smells.

“Have you ever seen a tornado?”

My grandmother kept her eyes on the road as she drove her new 1958 Studebaker along Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. She was trying to find a parking spot close to Clifton’s Cafeteria where we were going to have an adventure lunch high up in a fake redwood tree.

“Yes I have, when I was a little girl in Kansas. I saw it from a distance as my father pushed me down into the root cellar. “

“What is it like?” I perked up at the drama of being shoved underground as a killer tornado vacuumed its way toward the old farm.

“Well you see the sky turns green and looks like a pot of pea soup boiling upside-down.”

“Green? Who ever heard of a pea green sky? “

“Believe me, it’s green. Did I ever tell you about my Uncle Jarrett and the day he saw a tornado up close? “

I was all ears.

“It was the spring of 1900, I wasn’t even born yet.”

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“This don’t look so good Ginny” Young Jarrett Woods said patting his old mare on the neck as he looked up at the sky that was turning from a gray mauve into something akin to pea soup. It was coming up fast from the south. Far to the west there was silver ribbon on the horizon where the clouds met a line of still blue sky that shimmered like a mirage. Home was that way. Ginny nuzzled him with her nose and pushed him back in the general direction of the buggy. Her whole body shuddered and she stamped her hoof hard into the dry road. She could smell a bad storm coming.

“Okay Gin” He laughed at her. “we’ll get on home now.”

With a flick of the buggy whip they were off from the edge of Hutchinson and on the way out of town westward to the farm. Only a mile out of town the wind picked up mighty strong and the sliver of safe blue in the west was all but gone. Ginny was going a good trot without any encouragement. In fact Jarrett had to hold her back from breaking into a gallop. Hay was flying across the road from the haystacks in the fields. Sideways like snow in a blizzard. Then came the roar and Ginny screamed. He had never heard a horse scream and the hairs on his arms stood shocked straight out from his skin. He looked up from his arm, to see the hay flying in the opposite direction and Ginny at full furious gallop her hoofs barely scraping the road. He couldn’t hear anything now but the roar so evil he knew it was Satan calling his angels. That’s when Jarrett Woods looked up and saw it; the great green funnel over his head tearing down on him and Ginny. He could see all the way up inside where the lighting was white hot and feeding the mesmerizing monster. His stomach dropped to his toes and he was airborne as the twister engulfed him. He gripped the sides of the buggy seat that was all he could do as he realized he was flying over Kansas. No one had ever done that before; he thought and then knew he would be dead in a moment. Then there were the bees all around. How did bees get here? Then blackness and nothing.

There was a buzzing sound and a bird chirping. Far away a dog was barking and a little girl was calling after it. Everything seemed wet and he could smell honey and something not so pleasant. It was sweet, too sweet and filthy and as he moved back and forth between the two worlds he saw all sorts of strange things. The color was not of this earth, so beautiful it hurt to look. He just wanted to go home. There were voices coming close now and then blackness and noting.

When they found Jarrett Woods he was still in what was left of his buggy. Stuffed under the seat and hardly a scratch on him, Ginny was never found. The tornado had dropped him smack on top of the demolished outhouse of the McInnis bee farm. The shattered privy, the buggy, and Jarrett were covered with excrement, dead bees and honey.

Jarrett didn’t speak for the next three months and really was never the same. Until the day he died he never told anyone what he saw up there in the sky and he never ever liked the smell of honey.

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Basic Black by Bill Blass is a disaster that you can’t outrun once you put it on. There is no escape from this storm of heinous odors. And it is a shame. The bottle is so gorgeous and designed with great elegance. Being named Basic Black would lead one to expect something rich simple and stylish. What you get is poo and honey. And not Winnie the Poo and his favorite honey kids, oh no. This is a wheelbarrow full of barnyard poo. There is just no other way to say it.

I love a good old style dirty perfume, a flash of panties worn too long can be enticing, and a bit of the civet can make me purr. But this cat is swimming in the cesspool.

I am told by my research that this elixir should open with carnation, mandarin oranges, plum, ylang-ylang, bergamot and cardamom. If they are there I can’t find hide nor hair of them. What I get on the opening is a hard embalming blast of syrupy honey dolloped by the gallon over a poor dead civet, this is joined by a very rude and pushy tuberose who is dragging along by the roots some tired old violets and jasmine that have seen better days back in the 1900’s. I imagine this may just be what the Ancient Egyptians embalming mixture smelled like; sweet death in a canopic jar. The dry down is utter hell. A dying patchouli battles it out with a dreary musk, and that rotting civet. No one wins that battle. There is some amber too that should have been left at sea for a few more years. The benzoin, coconut and vetiver are buried along with the styrax in this funeral procession that drags on way too long. It is stomach turning in the end.

The scary thing about Basic Black is that is really projects to the rafters and for an interminable time. It goes on and on and on. If you want to clear a ballroom or a baseball stadium then this is your baby.

NO STARS

after many yrs of wearing Joy and Paloma Picasso, my Mom told me to surprise her with a new fragrance. So, I recruited the help of a 'friend' on this site last week..I bought this the same day he suggested it. She LOVES a note of civet.

She got this in the mail last nite...called me at work today to say, "Glory Hallelujah!...Ive got a new signature sccent, kid!..lol".

She loves it. I also got her a bottle of Ma Griffe to give her something she could wear everyday. She loves the Basic Black, but for the time being, thinks it to be, more of a formal scent.

My guess is that she'll change her mind, after she keeps sniffing it a million times..lol

WOW! This is unique! I love the way it smells. I just can't put my finger on what makes it so good. It is very "French" to me. This is not for a light weight. I prefer really strong smells. I will get back to you if I can come up with anything.

Happy Perfuming~♥

Bought the new version. Not a bad fragrance but the musk is so prominent it covers almost everything else.

Received it today. Have to say, this is so nice and smooth. It can be worn anytime and anyplace, dress it up or dress it down. This to me is like that favorite piece of clothing that you go for all the time and always travels with you. Oddly, I have a black cardigan that is like my "Basic Black" for dressy, casual, or dressy casual and this scent is just like that. A must have and my new BFF or should I say BBBFF!

Similar to Cassini. Better in my opinion. Where Cassini is a powerhouse, this configuration shares a lot of the same notes but does not leave such a thick cloud feeling. It is softer and more for everyday. I am ordering ASAP. I tried on yesterday and will be purchasing. Basic Black is a Basic Beauty.

This is not a review but a recommendation - if the new version of Basic Black has not yet been issued, I suggest that you go to Ebay and purchase a bottle of the old stuff ASAP. Not all of the "old" ingredients will be permitted in a new version, a reformulation will be required and the new won't be "the same". I took a chance based on your positive reviews here and just purchased one for myself. I hope hope hope that it truly is the old version--I love civet! There are also bottles of "Nude" and "Hot" available on Ebay as well.

I have tried this scent and I love it. It has a magical opening, citric and flowers and Honey! But not too sweet, it is almost like a whisper that doesn't leave, I love it very much. The peach also gives its note but then all is like flowers and honey, very special, feminine, I know I am going to use this perfume during the night, and why not when i go to bed, it's calm and yet happy. Probably the civet has its second of "what is this i feel too much scent here" after about four or five minutes, then it melts with other scents, the base notes, very lastly, especially amber and patchouli. Well, I would say that the honey is completely melted here with the base notes, like a diffusion of first becoming second and then ONE. Because all the notes are there at the same time, and the sweet scent doesn't leave me. I would say use it with care, it really is strong although being a chypre it is not the typical strong oriental. It also smells clean, I cannot say it is like Cassini, because I have not tried this one yet. But probably even if the notes are similar the concentration varies from note to note and then the magic creates a different scent! I don't know. That's another part of the magic of perfumes. It also has this "je ne sais quoi" that takes me back in time. I will use this perfume with caution, it is wonderful and I know it's going to last for a long time.

It seems to have A LOT of notes in common with Cassini! Is it just like Cassini, does anyone know?

Black is back!

Will be reissued with Hot and Nude.

Perfect, I'm very curious about it.

I still have an almost full original bottle of this from like when it first came out!! And guess what it still smells the same. I guess I should wear it up but it reminds me of my "wild days" and I just love sniffing it lol. I got it for my birthday from my sister maybe thats why I don't use it up? Great unique scent with powerful silliage and lasting strength.

I will never forget being in a restaurant and a guy, standing behind me and whispering, whatever you're wearing smells mesmerizing on you...It was Basic Black, by Bill Blass. Please bring it back!!!!

When do you think you will bring Basic Black back? Why was it ever discontinued? It was a big mistake to discontinue it!! It is my is absolute favorite and my "signature" scent!!!!! I want to be able to buy it always and forever!! Please bring it back soon!! There is a market for it!! Thanks, please consider this request!!!

I was VERY dissapointed when the discontinued Basic Black!! I LOVED it. Men at my job (friends) would follow me just to smell the fragrance. Can't you bring it back??

Its a shame this is discontinued - its one of the sexiest fragrances I own. Very complex, with heady floral notes as well as woody and spicy notes, its a very dark scent as the name "basic black" implies. I'd consider it a very mature scent, and not for teens at all.